Section 33-0303. Powers and duties of the commissioner and the department

1.  Jurisdiction  in all matters pertaining to the distribution, sale,
  use  and  transportation  of  pesticides,  is  by  this  article  vested
  exclusively in the commissioner.
    2.  All  authority  vested  in the commissioner by this article may be
  executed with like force and  effect  by  employees  of  the  department
  designated  by  the  commissioner; however, all hearings held under this
  article except those held under the  provisions  of  title  9  shall  be
  conducted  by the commissioner or by a person designated by him for that
  purpose, and any decision rendered after any such hearing shall be  made
  by the commissioner.
    3. The commissioner is authorized, after a hearing:
    a.  To  declare  as  a  pest any form of plant or animal life or virus
  which is injurious  to  plants,  men,  domestic  animals,  articles,  or
  substances;
    b.  To  determine  whether  pesticides are highly toxic to man, and to
  promulgate a list of such pesticides;
    c. To determine standards of coloring or discoloring  for  pesticides,
  and  to  subject  pesticides  to  the  requirements  of  paragraph  d of
  subdivision 1 of section 33-l301;
    d. To promulgate a list of restricted use pesticides and the usages of
  such pesticides that may be permitted subject to whatever conditions  or
  limitations  which  the  commissioner deems appropriate to fully protect
  the public  interest;  provided,  however,  that  no  hearing  shall  be
  required  on  individual  additions  to such list unless requested sixty
  days after notice has been provided in the environmental notice bulletin
  as prescribed in section 3-0306 of such law, as added by  chapter  seven
  hundred  fourteen  of  the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-five, by the
  applicant or an interested party; and
    e. To adopt, promulgate and issue such rules and regulations as he may
  deem necessary to carry out and  give  full  force  and  effect  to  the
  provisions  of  this  article.  However, rules and regulations regarding
  business registration and certification may  be  adopted  only  after  a
  public  hearing.  Such rules and regulations may prescribe methods to be
  used in the application of pesticides, including the time, place, manner
  and method of application  and  equipment  used,  and  may  restrict  or
  prohibit  use  of materials in designated areas during specified periods
  of time, and shall encompass  all  reasonable  factors  which  he  deems
  necessary  to prevent damage or injury to health, property and wildlife.